Rainy Day Ombre

We are in love with the ombre (pronounced OM-bray) trend we see popping up
everywhere from hair styles to fancy cakes. So we've made a soap project that
uses the natural tendency of LabColors to bleed to create a perfect ombre effect. This
soap has 10 layers of different colors of soap - but don't worry, we have a trick
to make that easier than it sounds!

SAFETY FIRST!
If you’ve never made Cold Process soap before, I highly recommend checking out the informative 4 part series (for free!) on
Soap Queen TV, especially the episode on Lye Safety. For all of those bookworms out there,
Bramble Berry also offers a selection of
reading material to dive into before making your first batch.

PREP YOUR COLORS
Dilute your LabColors before
using them in soap.
Learn how here.

LINE YOUR MOLD
Line the
5 Pound Wood Loaf Mold with freezer paper, shiny side up. Find a tutorial on that
here.

ONE: Carefully add your lye to your water (never the other way around!)
and stir until clear. Set aside to cool.

TWO: Melt the Coconut and Palm Oils and mix well. Weigh out all of the oils and mix together
making sure they are completely blended.
Add Mango Butter to warm oils and stir until melted (you may need to warm up the mix to melt the butter).

THREE: Slowly add the lye to your oils when both are under 130 degrees.
Pulse with a stick blender until you reach a light trace.

FOUR: Split your batch into 5 parts.
You can eyeball it, but each container should weigh about 16 ounces.

FIVE: Color each of your batches.
Use a whisk to mix in your colorants.

TIP: For this ombre effect, you’ll want a range of color from light to dark. With these colorants, work with a “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) eye. Your color outcomes may vary, but here’s a guideline:

Layer 1: A lightish blue colored with diluted Royal Blue LabColor. We used about 10 mL of colorant.

Layer 2: A slightly darker blue colored with slightly more diluted Royal Blue LabColor. For this layer, we used about 15 mL of colorant.

Layer 3: A dark blue blend of both the diluted Royal Blue LabColor and
diluted Blue Mix LabColor, heavier on the Royal Blue. For this layer, we used 9 mL of Royal Blue LabColor and and 6 mL of Blue Mix LabColor.

Layer 4: A dark greenish blue blend of both the diluted Royal Blue LabColor and
diluted Blue Mix LabColor, heavier on the Blue Mix. We used 9mL Blue Mix LabColor and 4 mL Royal Blue LabColor.

Layer 5: A greenish blue colored with just diluted Blue Mix LabColor. We used about 9 mL Blue Mix LabColor.

SIX: Add fragrance oil to each of the split batches. Keep using the whisk to mix.

SEVEN: Pour 1/2 of the Layer 1 batch into your mold.
Pour down the center of the mold from one side to another to equally distribute soap along the bottom of the mold.
Tap mold on table to eliminate any air bubbles.

EIGHT: Add another 2 mL of diluted Royal Blue LabColor to the batch and mix with a whisk.
Pour over first layer, using a spatula so that the second layer doesn’t break
through the first.
Pound the mold on the table to distribute soap evenly and get rid of air bubbles.
(You’re going to want to do this after every pour).

NINE: Pour 1/2 of the Layer 2 batch, using a spatula to prevent breakthrough.
Pound the mold on the table to distribute soap evenly and get rid of air bubbles.

TEN: Add another 2 mL to the remaining soap and mix in with a whisk.
Pour into mold, using a spatula to prevent breakthrough.
Pound the mold on the table to distribute soap evenly and get rid of air bubbles.

ELEVEN: Pour all of the layer 3 batch into the mold, using a spatula to prevent breakthrough.
Pour layers 4and 5 in the same manner.
Pound the mold on the table after each pour to distribute soap evenly and get rid of air bubbles.

FOURTEEN: Unmold, cut, and allow to cure for 4-6 weeks. After about a week or two,
you’ll notice that the colors have bled into each other to create an ombre effect. Enjoy!

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What's New?

Perfectly Pink Stick Blenders. After using many different hand blenders over
the years, Anne-Marie has found that the Cuisinart brand is the one that really
stands up to the heavy use a soapmaker needs.